Want to post this to your blog? it doesn’t really fit in as a comment on an exisiting post, and I can’t make an original post myself of course.
With the sound changes now more or less in place, I’ve also been working on some grammar basics (pronouns, articles, etc) but I’m too tired to write up all of that right now!
Pete
Well, since I’m playing around with a Romanised ‘High German,’ and you are interested in a Roman Low German / English analogue, it seems obvious we need a common Proto-dialect, which I think of as “Northern Romance.” It’s clear these northern dialects are going to evolve from Western/Gallo-Romance, with a POD sometime in the first 2 or 3 centuries CE.
I’ve been working on phonologies and a ‘GMP’, as you know. To take us up to the point where our high and low dialects diverge sometime in the middle of the first millennium, I have two stages. The first stage applies the sound changes attested in VL to the CL lexicon. Not ideal, as the one language does not evolve from the other of course, but you need to make the best of what you have. Naturally, where there are known CL/VL differences I’ve gone with the VL and slotted it in as best I can.
The second stage considers the phoneme inventories of VL and Germanic and melds the one to the other. Hopefully, the result is the sort of Latin pronunciation that might come about from the substantial Germanic substrate that would have existed. Once that has been achieved it then continues onward, applying the OTL West Germanic sound changes (I then continue further with AHD, MHD and NHD changes, but these of course are irrelevant in the Low German areas).
Stage 1 (CL > VL, BCE up to circa 200 CE)
/j/ > /jj/ V _ V
/a, a:/ > /A/
/e, ai/ > /E/
/i, oi, e:/ > /e/
/o/ > /O/
/u, o:/ > /o/
/u:/ > /U/
/i:/ > /I/
/au/ > /o/ _ C
/I, E, e/ > /j/ _ V
/I, E, e/ > /j/ V _
V > 0 C _ /l, r/
/E/ > /e/ _ $ /i/ #
/O/ > /o/ _ $ /i/ #
/e/ > /I/ _ $ /i/ #
/o/ > /U/ _ $ /i/ #
/h/ > 0
/m/ > 0 _ # Except monosyllables
/w/ > /B/ (i.e. semivocalic /
/adg/ > /agg/ # _
/adl/ > /all/ # _
/adr/ > /arr/ # _
/adp/ > /app/ # _
/adsc/ > /asc/ # _
/inl/ > /ill/ # _
/inm/ > /imm/ # _
/inp/ > /imp/ # _
/inr/ > /imr/ # _
/conr/ > /corr/ # _
/conl/ > /coll/ # _
/mpt/ > /nt/
/tl/ > /kl/
/lnj/ > /nj/
/ns, ps, ks, ls, sB/ > /s/
/tB, pt/ > /tt/
/kt/ > /t/
/gn/ > /n/
/mn/ > /m/
/sp/ > /Esp/ # _
/st/ > /Est/ # _
/sk/ > /Esk/ # _
/rk/ > /rts/ _ /E, I, e, i/
/rg/ > /rdZ/ # _ /A, E, I, e, i/
/nk/ > /nts/ _ /E, I, e, i/
/j/ > /dZ/ # _
/pj/ > /tS/
/tj, kj/ > /ts/
/k/ > /ts/ _ /E, I, e, i/
/bj/ > /dZ/
/dj/ > /dZ/ # _
/dj/ > 0 V _ V
/gj/ > /I/
/sj/z/
/mj/ > /ndZ/ VCC_ , VC_
/lj/ > /L/
/rj/ > /r/
/kw/ > /k/ #_
/kw/ > /B/ V_V
/skl/ > /sl/
/nkt/ > /nt/
/d/ > 0 _#
/t/ > 0 V _ #
Stage 2 (VL > PNRom, circa 200 > 500 CE)
Stress moves to word stem in all cases.
/B/ > /w/
/b/ > /B/ /bb/ and /mb/ not affected. I have been tempted to put this change first, so /b/ and /B/ collapse together.
/d/ > /D/ /dd/ and /nd/ not affected
/g/ > /G/ /gg/ and /ng/ not affected
/f/ > /T/ # _ /l/ and C _ /l/ not affected
/t_h/ > /T/ (i.e.
/p_h/ > /p\/ (i.e.
/pt/ > /p\t/
/kt/ > /xt/
/ks/ > /sk/
/z/ > /s/ [s_a]
/S/ > /x/ I don’t think I actually have /S/ at this point, but just in case!
/Z/ > /j/ No /Z/ yet either?
/ts/ > /s/ # _
/ts/ > /T/ Except # _
/tS/ > /t/
/dZ/ > d/
/L/ > /l/
/AA, aa, Aa, aA/ > /a:/
/EE, ee, Ee, eE/ > /e:/
/II, ii, Ii, iI/ > /i/
/OO, oo, Oo, oO/ > /o:/
/UU, uu, Uu, uU/ > /u:/
/a/ > /a:/
/e/ > /e:/
/i/ > /i:/
/o/ > /o:/
/u/ > /u:/
/Anx/ > /ax/
/Enx/ > /ex/
/Inx/ > /ix/
/Onx/ > /ox/
/Unx/ > /ux/
/E/ > /I/ _ $ /I, i:, j/ ($ being a syllable boundary, of course)
/e:/ > /i:/ _ $ /I, i:, j/
/E/ > /I/ _ N C
/e/ > /i/ _ N C
/U/ > /O/ _ $ /a:, e:, o:/ /U/ remains unchanged if followed by a N and a C, or a C- cluster with /j/
/I/ > /E/ _ $ /a:, e:, o:/ I/ remains unchanged if followed by a N and a C, or a C-cluster with /j/
/x/ > /h/ # _ V, V _ V
/Ej/ > /eij/
/Ew/ > /euw/
/Aww/ > /ouw/
/m/ > /n/ _ # Short vowels in monosyllabic words only
/n/ > 0 _ # Short vowels in polysyllabic words only
/ei/ > /i:/
/p/Va/ > /ap/V _ # Short vowels in polysyllabic words only
/t/V/a/ > /at/V _ # Short vowels in polysyllabic words only
/k/V/a/ > /ak/V _ # Short vowels in polysyllabic words only
/F/V/a/ > /aF/V _ # Short vowels in polysyllabic words only
/f/V/a/ > /af/V _ # Short vowels in polysyllabic words only
/T/V/a/ > /aT/V _ # Short vowels in polysyllabic words only
/x/V/a/ > /ax/V _ # Short vowels in polysyllabic words only
/pla/ > /apl/ _ # Short vowels in polysyllabic words only
/pra/ > /apr/ _ # Polysyllabic words only
/tla/ > /atl/ _ # Polysyllabic words only
/tra/ > /atr/ _ # Polysyllabic words only
/kla/ > /akl/ _ # Polysyllabic words only
/kra/ > /akr/ _ # Polysyllabic words only
/Fla/ > /aFl/ _ # Polysyllabic words only
/Fra/ > /aFr/ _ # Polysyllabic words only
/fla/ > /afl/ _ # Polysyllabic words only
/fra/ > /afr/ _ # Polysyllabic words only
/Tla/ > /aTl/ _ # Polysyllabic words only
/Tra/ > /aTr/ _ # Polysyllabic words only
/xla/ > /axl/ _ # Polysyllabic words only
/xra/ > /axr/ _ # Polysyllabic words only
/A, E, I, U/ > 0 Bisyllabic words only . Stressed vowels not affected. /I, U/ not affected if immediately preceded by a short vowel and single consonant.
V > 0 _ # Short vowels in polysyllabic words only
/o:/ > /U/ _ $#
V: > V _ $#
/rh/ > /rAh/ Medial positions only
/lh/ > /lAh/ Medial positions only
/rw/ > /rAw/ Medial positions only
/lw/ > /lAw/ Medial positions only
/sw/ > /sAw/ Medial positions only
/ai/ > /e:/ _ #
/ai/ > /e:/ _ /r, h, w/
/ai/ > /ei/
/au/ > /o/ _ / h, t, d, s, S, n, r, l/
/au/ > /ou/
/eu/ > /y/ _ /p, b, m, g, ng, f, B, G/
/eu/ > /y/ _ $ /u:, U, i:, I, j/
eu/ > /eo/
C /j/ > CC V _ After short vowels only. /r/ not affected
/p/ > /pp/ _ /l, r/ Except # _
/t/ > /tt/ _ /l, r/ Except # _
/k/ > /kk/ _ /l, r/ Except # _
/Bj/ > /bb/ Except # _
/Dj/ > /dd/ Except # _
/G/ > /g/ #_
/G/ > /gg/
/D/ > /d/
Tags: grand master plan, Languages, Mundus Germaniae Romanae, phonologyRelated posts
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Metatheses
What’s the deal with these metatheses?
To be continued…
Comment by melroch — 30 January, 2008 @ 14:44
I made a note of them during some research. Unfortunately, i did not make a note of the reference… :(
Comment by pete — 30 January, 2008 @ 23:41